Russia’s state-controlled telecom giant Rostelecom announced on Feb. 8 that one of its underwater cables in the Baltic Sea had been damaged due to an "external impact." The company did not specify the cause of the damage but confirmed that repair work was underway.

In just three months, three incidents of damage to Baltic Sea underwater cables have taken place. While accidential cable slices are common, the cluster raises suspicion.

A Norwegian-owned, Russian-crewed ship that authorities initially suspected of involvement in damage to an underwater fiber optic cable connecting Latvia and the Swedish island of Gotland has been released.

Finnish coastguards said on Saturday they were monitoring repairs of a Russian underwater cable carried out by a Russian vessel in the Gulf of Finland. Several undersea telecom and power cables have been severed in the Baltic Sea in recent months,